This is an excellent book about the 1927 Mississippi River Flood which spawned classic blues songs like When The Levee Breaks by Memphis Minnie (covered by Led Zeppelin on the Led Zeppelin IV album), High Water Everywhere by Charley Patton.

You may also want to visit Greenville, Washington County, Mississippi where the effects of the 1927 flood are recounted in detail by John M. Barry in Rising Tide.